Mind Prey

database we can find on felony convictions, Minnesota and however much of Wisconsin we can get. We need to see if any Manette-or Dunn-related companies own Econolines. Go to Ford, see if we can get a list of Econolines from their warranty program—they said it was an older one, so go back as far as you can. We need to run the registration lists for Econolines against her patient list, which we’re trying to get…”
    Anderson broke in. “I’m setting up a database of patient names. Any name that pops up in the investigation, we can run against the list—so get all the names you can. All the teachers at the school, her phone records, anything.”
    Lester nodded and continued. “We need to check Manette’s and Dunn’s credit ratings, see if anybody’s got money problems. Check insurance policies. What else?”
    “Manette’s putting together an enemies list,” Lucas said.
    “Run that, too,” Lester told Anderson. “What are we missing?”
    “Public appeals,” said a black cop in a pearl-gray suit. “Pictures of Manette and the kids.”
    “All the news outlets already have some kind of pictures, but we’re putting out some high-quality stuff in the next couple of hours,” Lester said. “There’s some talk of a reward for information. We’ll get back to you on that. And I want to say now, all the news contacts should go through the Public Affairs Department. I don’t want anybody talking to the press. Everybody clear on that?”
    Everybody was. Lester turned to Sherrill. “How’s the house-to-house going?”
    “We’ve hit all the houses where the residents could see the school, except for two, where there’s nobody home, and we’re looking for those people in case they were there during the kidnapping,” Sherrill said. “The only thing we have so far is one woman who saw the van, and she picked out Econoline taillights as the lights she saw. So we think that ID is solid. Now we’re going back for a second round, to talk about what people might’ve seen in the past couple of days—and we’re doing the same thing in Manette’s neighborhood. If this was planned out, he must’ve been scouting her. So, that’s about it.”
    “Okay,” Lester said. He looked around the room. “You all know the general picture. Get your assignments from Anderson and let’s get it on the road. I want everybody breaking their balls on this one. This one’s gonna be tough, and we need to look good.”
    As the other detectives gathered around Anderson, Lucas leaned toward Greave and asked, “Did the kid, the witness kid, did she see anything different from what Girdler gave us?”
    Greave scratched the back of his head, and his eyes defocused. “Ah, the kid, I don’t know, I didn’t get much from her. She was fairly freaked out. Didn’t seem like much.”
    “You got her phone number?” Lucas asked.
    “Sure. You want it?”
    “Doesn’t she live over in St. Paul? Highland Park?”
    “Someplace around there…”
     
    L ESTER CAUGHT L UCAS outside his office as Lucas was locking the door.
    “Any ideas?” he asked.
    “What everybody else says—money or a nut,” Lucas said. “If we don’t get a ransom call, we’ll find him in her files or in her family.”
    “There could be a problem with the files,” Lester said. “Manette talked to the Wolfe woman and she hit the roof. I guess there was a hell of an argument. Medical privilege.”
    “Doesn’t exist, Frank,” Lucas said. “Subpoena the records. Don’t talk about it. If you talk about it, it’ll turn into a big deal and the media will be wringing their wrists. Get a judge out of bed, get the subpoena. I’ll take it over myself, if you want.”
    “That’d be good, but not tonight,” Lester said. “We’ve got too much going on already. I’ll have it here at seven o’clock tomorrow morning.”
    Lucas nodded. “I’ll pick it up as early as I can drag my ass out of bed,” he said. He didn’t get up early. “I’m gonna stop and see the kid, too. Tonight.”
    “Bob talked to her,” Lester said, uncomfortably.
    “Yeah, he did,” Lucas said. And after a moment, “That’s your problem.”
    “Bob’s a nice guy,” Lester said.
    “He couldn’t catch the clap in a whorehouse, Frank.”
    “Yeah, yeah…did you talk to the kid’s folks?”
    “Two minutes ago,” Lucas said. “I told them I was on the way.”
     
    C LARICE B ERNET WORE a suit and tie. Her husband, Thomas, wore a cashmere sweater and a tie. “We don’t